Over the past 30 years, scholars and activists have called on the Chinese government to ease the registration and oversight rules governing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and to increase funding for such organizations by, among other things, broadening the charitable deduction. While China has made significant progress in this regard, the government continues to throw up roadblocks for NGOs, suggesting that it has not fully embraced this path.

This Article considers the extent to which the justifications for a broad charitable deduction adduced in the West make sense in China. The goal is to develop a normative basis consistent with Chinese values and interests and that Chinese authorities would find compelling. It further considers the impact China’s political and social culture would likely have on how a broadly available charitable deduction would operate in China, concluding that even if China were to adopt Western-style laws governing NGOs and providing for a broad charitable deduction, culture would affect both how government officials implement the laws and how the Chinese people respond to them, resulting in a system of charity, but one with Chinese characteristics.